Today is part two of our round-up from the Eurogamer Expo at Earls Court. Today we look at what the Wii had to offer plus Microsoft’s new motion controller Kinect and a few other bits and pieces. We will start with the completing the games list though.

Medal Of Honor

A game that has been racked with controversy since everyone found out that you could play as the Taliban. Now called ‘The Opposing Force’ after EA decided it best to remove the Taliban from the game. If we are honest we did not actually play this game but stood and watched it for a while. Only a multi-player deathmatch was on offer and it did look very nice indeed. Graphically it is a step up from Call Of Duty 4 although gameplay looks very similar. It begs the question will the gaming public ever get bored with FPS war based shooters like we have? If this is your preferred genre then this game looks to be more than competent.

Dead Nation

Tucked away on a single screen with no glitz or glamour was this little gem. Coming soon to PSN, Dead Nation is an isometric zombie mash-up that is sure to get zombie killers everywhere, excited. Developed be Housemarque, the team that brought you Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation is fast, frenetic and boasts the most amount of zombies on-screen at one time, in any game.

With daily scoreboards posted worldwide and loads of laughs this is sure to be a PSN hit. We will have a review as soon as we can.

Brink

Yet again only playable in a multi-player deathmatch Brink is looking very good indeed. Based in a future where the world is covered in water and the human race lives in giant floating cities Brink brings some interesting new gameplay elements to the table that allow the player to perform great moves with simple button presses.

In the full game the online and campaign are supposedly linked closely together. From the little we saw we cannot confirm or deny this but we can say that if the single-player is as good as this deathmatch then we are in for a treat.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

When the first Donkey Kong Country arrived on the SNES it dropped the jaws of anyone that saw it. So far advanced were its graphics that it momentarily re-lighted sales of the dying platform.

Obviously the new title was never going to reach such heights but it still looks pretty awesome. It is true classic side-scrolling DKC gameplay with loads of new bells and whistles added to it. This looks to be a sure-fire hit for the Wii and it is definitely a series that we welcome back. Kind of like an old mate who we haven’t seen for some time. All Wii owners should own this game.

Just Dance 2

One of our funniest moments of the whole show was watching one woman going through her paces on Just Dance 2. So intense was the expression on her face that she could have been the poster child for how brilliant the game was. Honestly we did not actually play it, yes we know that surprises you but we couldn’t get on it, honest.

Looks like more of the same but seeing as Just Dance was a phenomenal success we can see this one hovering around the top of the charts for some time to come.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Due for release any time now Kirby’s Epic Yarn is yet another brilliant reboot from the boys at Nintendo. Take one classic character add a new and imaginative gameplay style stir for a bit and hey presto, awesome game!

With Kirby’s Epic Yarn the whole game world is made of material. This means that not only is Kirby ever-changing but also the you will find bits of thread to pull opening up new areas and specials. As ever Nintendo have made it easy for players of all experience to pick up and play with a two-player mode that means even non-gamers could join in.

We think if you own a Wii then this is a must and whilst our biggest issue we have with the console is that Nintendo do not make enough games for it themselves when they do they are nearly always brilliant!

Fable III

Playable and looking rather nice was the third game in the Fable series. We were going to go and listen to Peter Moleneux’s chat about all the things he again didn’t manage to do in this Fable but to be honest we couldn’t be bothered. Not great journalism we admit but come on, we have heard it all before. We are sure he waxed lyrical about Kinect although he has gone a little quiet about this since it came out and everyone realised its pretty poo.

Fable III on the other hand looks great and puts you in the role of the King of Albion. Yes, as you grow you get to run the whole country and need to decide what kind of King you will be. Whether you are good or bad the country will transform as to whether your subjects are happy or not.

You can even go to war against a neighbouring country if so desired. Fable III is a nice new angle for the series and is supported by a voice cast of distinction including Simon Pegg and John Cleese.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Kind of a sequel kind of an add-on this full priced game is an entirely new story based around pretty much the same game engine as Assassin’s Creed 2. You again take on the role of Ezio as he now travels to Rome to continue his fight against the Templars. This time however you enlist some help in the form of The Brotherhood a team of Assassin’s that you train as you help them to reclaim their homes. You can call on this help during the game which mixes up the gameplay a little.

Leonardo da Vinci has been ordered to make weapons and vehicles of war which he then asks Ezio to destroy. Obviously you wouldn’t just destroy da Vinci’s machines without taking them for a joyride first eh?

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood looks great and if you are a fan of the series you wont be let down!

Def Jam Rapstar

One of the loudest and most garish stalls was the Def Jam Rapstar stage. Copying the world of SingStar,Def Jam Rapstar really is a game where you Rap along to famous hip-hop tracks from throughout the ages.

Developers Terminal Reality’s proprietary voice recognition software means that big scores are only available if you say the right lyric at the right time. The game will even show you where you made mistakes after the end of the track.

Whatever you think of rappers we still think this will be a fun ‘after the pub’ game for all.

Motion Carried

Now we move, no pun intended, onto the Kinect and Move from Microsoft and Sony respectively. This was the public début of Kinect and we were there to have a look and see whether the reported £130 that Microsoft are going to charge for this little camera is worth it, although with the news that they have removed the processor from the unit we are wondering if this is an attempt to lower the cost. We shall see!

Kinect

Dance Central

Microsoft have pinned a lot of their Kinect hope on MTV games Dance Central. Among what is mostly dross for the machine Dance Central actually seems to perform quite well. Mirroring your moves into avatar characters on-screen that game supposedly copies what you do, however we can assure you that it does not really. We stood and watched some people with no rhythm whatsoever get some pretty impressive moves going on. The only thing we would say is that if it helps people who can’t dance for toffee make idiots of themselves at weddings because Dance Central made them believe they were John Travolta then we are all for it.

Kinect Adventures

A party collection of mini-games ranging from being stuck in a glass box that springs holes that you need to plug to racing down a river in a dingy. The different games seem to bring varying results in how the Kinect performs. The first one mentioned seemed to work quite well and be reasonably accurate whilst the river run was just awful with virtually no control whatsoever.

Kinect Joy Ride

A Mario Kart-style game that has you pretending to hold an invisible steering wheel in front of you. Moving said wheel side-to-side steers whilst pushing in and out will perform boosts and the like.

Not the worst driving game we have ever played but probably not far off. Unresponsive controls and boring gameplay sees yet another Kinect title fall flat on its arse.

Overall had these games all come in one package then maybe we could have understood their unfinished feel but seriously if you have pre-ordered a Kinect then cancel it now! At least until the price comes down or something good actually comes out for it.

Move

We have already featured Sony’s trip into the world of motion control here so we wont go into the unit itself but needless to say it is actually quite, if totally pointless.

There were a couple of games at the show which we had not had hands on time with before however.

SOCOM Special Forces

Yes whilst this game will be playable in the traditional sense it will also be controllable with the Move. We had a go and our first impressions were quite decent. The move is more accurate than in MAG and seemed to perform well. It does however make the game feel more like Time Crisis than a serious shooter and there was a major issue in trying to pinpoint a tank for an airstrike. It took ages and became very frustrating. This is early code so maybe that minor gripe will be fixed in time for release.

The Fight: Lights Out

A fighting game that is meant to be serious and edgy with settings such as back alleys and dark gyms. However, watching every bloke go up thinking they’re Mike Tyson only to watch then waving around what looked like pink ice creams was pretty hilarious. Playable in non-glorious 3D this game is not bad for a quick go but we are pretty sure that the poor motion tracking and lack of any real depth would make this get old pretty quick.

So that pretty much wraps up what we thought of the show and the wondrous new games and hardware available. Yes there were some great games but also there were some pigs!

Our overriding thoughts from the show though were how much we miss ECTS back in its prime and how much the UK games industry needs a real gaming show back.